


An Annual Thing

by fmpsimon



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:07:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26192401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fmpsimon/pseuds/fmpsimon
Summary: Noctis hates celebrating his birthday, and this year, with all the burdens of the Kingdom on his shoulders, he's determined to spend it alone. Prompto has other plans, however, when he shows up at one in the morning.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 2
Kudos: 48





	An Annual Thing

Noctis pursed his lips and leaned his arms on the balcony, looking over the city that stretched all the way to the horizon. Insomnia, the city that never slept. That appeared to be the case, judging from the lights and sounds that seemed to never cease. He didn’t mind. It made the sleepless nights seem less lonely. He glanced at his watch as the minute hand turned over to midnight. “Happy Birthday,” he muttered. He was officially eighteen now. He was an adult, the heir apparent, and now a pile of responsibilities had just been dumped in his lap. Wasn’t much to be excited about, if they asked him, which they didn’t, of course.

He sighed. He never liked celebrating his birthday. It was always something that he did for everyone else’s sake. Prompto was usually the first to push that they do something, but he always suggested something that Noctis just…didn’t want to do. Prompto was his best friend, but that didn’t mean that Noctis shared everything with him.

He hadn’t told him about his fears and anxiety about all the responsibility that he was going to have, for example. He hadn’t told him that it was eating him up inside to the point where he didn’t want to leave his room, let alone leave the Citadel to go out and have a “fun night.”

He hadn’t told him that he just wanted to be left alone.

Prompto didn’t understand what he was going through, anyway. His idea of pressure was whether or not he could get all his homework done or whether he was going to pass that math exam. He had no idea what it felt like to have the entire Kingdom of Lucis weighing him down.

He shuddered. It was August, but there was a chill in the air—a damp cold that made his spine tingle. He pushed off from the railing and stepped back into his room. He pulled off his pants and shirt, and climbed into bed, burying his face in his pillow. He shut his eyes tight and tried to force himself to fall asleep, just by listening to the sound of his own breathing in and out.

He had just about fallen asleep, too, when he heard a soft knocking sound. He wrinkled his nose and turned his head as light flooded into his room. A gangly, dark figure stood in the doorway, and while he tried to wake himself up from being half asleep, his ears were just about deafened by some unholy, high-pitched, trumpet from hell.

He jumped out of bed and slammed his hand against the light switch. Prompto was standing there, noisemaker hanging out of his mouth, frozen. “What the fuck are you doing in my room?!” Noctis almost shouted.

“I—”

“How did you even get _in_ here?!” Noctis was livid and tired and—fuck, he was practically naked. He grabbed a blanket and threw it around himself.

“I…uh…Ignis let me in,” Prompto said quietly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” His arms fell to his side. “Can I…come in?”

“Might as well,” Noctis grumbled. “Since you’re already here.” He watched him step inside and carefully close the door. “I thought I told you I didn’t want anything special today.”

Prompto sat on the edge of the bed. “I figured you were just saying that because you didn’t want me to spend any money on you.” He smiled crookedly. “I only spent a little.”

Noctis sighed. “So, what do you want? It’s almost one in the morning.” He rubbed his forehead, letting the blanket fall at his waist.

“Oh! One sec.” He turned and dug into the bag he’d brought, pulling out a small package about the size of a book, wrapped in brown paper. He held it out and Noctis took it.

“What’s this?” he said.

“Well, open it up!” Prompto bounced with nervous energy.

Noctis put his hand on his knee. “Stop.” His gaze returned to the package and he tore off the paper. It was a framed photo. “It’s…us.”

Prompto scooted closer. “It’s from graduation. It’s the only decent one I got, since I was using the timer and all that.”

Noctis stared at the picture. They weren’t standing still, smiling for the camera—they were laughing. Prompto had his hand on Noctis’s shoulder, holding onto him for support as they doubled over from laughter. Noctis remembered it clearly. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You could start with, ‘thank you.’” Prompto nudged him, bare skin against bare skin, then pulled back, his cheeks flushing.

“Thanks,” Noctis said. He felt a lump in his throat and tears pricked at his eyes. What was the matter with him? He never cried. Hadn’t he trained himself to suck it up, to push everything down deep so that he didn’t have to feel it? He pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping that would stop it.

“Noct, are you…crying?” Prompto leaned in, trying to see his face, but Noctis turned his head.

“Shut up. I’m not,” he said, but his voice betrayed him, hitching in his throat.

“It’s okay.” Noctis felt an arm rest on his shoulder and a gentle squeeze on his upper arm. “I didn’t think you’d get that emotional, but it’s fine, dude. I’m glad you like it.”

Noctis wiped his tears on his arm, covering his face. “It’s not the picture.”

“What do you mean?” Prompto said. “What is it?”

“It’s everything!” he sobbed. “Everything’s gonna change now! We’re never gonna get to be like this again!” He clutched the frame, his knuckles white.

“Noct, what are you talking about? Nothing’s changing!” He pulled his arm down and Noctis immediately put his face in his hand. “Noct, stop it—stop—covering—your—face!” He wrenched his hand away.

Noctis’s face was blotchy and red and wet from tears. He sniffled, looking down. “My dad’s not letting me go to university. He says I have everything that I need to learn here. I’ve got to learn to lead through experience, he says. He wants me reading all this political doctrine shit and attending board meetings and talking with—with fucking dignitaries! And I don’t want to do _any_ of that!” He clenched his fist. “I just want to be _normal_ and be with you and—”

“Noct,” Prompto said, grabbing his face.

“What?” Noctis turned and they locked eyes. And then something happened that he had not expected: their lips touched. No, _Prompto’s_ lips were on his—he was _kissing_ him. And Noctis was kissing him back. He had never kissed anyone like this before. It was hungry, it was desperate; he could taste his own tears and the energy drink that Prompto had just gulped down.

He lied down, pulling Prompto with him, his hands tangled in his hair. Prompto straddled him as they clumsily tried to find a rhythm to whatever this was. He whipped his shirt off between kisses and tossed it on the floor. “Noct,” he said, breathlessly, “are we gonna…?”

“C’mere,” Noctis said, ignoring him and pulling him back into his lips. Something caught his attention and he gently pulled away.

“What?”

“Shh.” He had to strain his ears, but he could hear the soft tapping of footsteps down the hallway. “It’s my dad,” he whispered.

“What?” Prompto said, his brow furrowed. “Why would he—?”

“It’s him—I can tell—just get under here!” He lifted the covers and Prompto wriggled underneath. Noctis turned on his side, hoping that would disguise the Prompto-sized lump next to him. He shut his eyes and, a moment later, heard the door open. Once again, light flooded into the room. He tried to breathe normally, but it was really hard with Prompto pressed up against him. He curled his fingers in his hair and just tried to stay calm and quiet until his dad left.

Soon the door closed and the sound of retreating footsteps filled his ears. He exhaled, long and deep. “It’s safe.”

Prompto flung off the covers and sat up. “I should go. I don’t want you to get in trouble or anything. It was my stupid idea to come here.”

Noctis gaped at him. “You can’t just leave after—after all that.” He watched Prompto as he picked his shirt up and put it back on. His dick was straining against his shorts and he had no intention of trying to hide it at this point. His gaze flicked downwards and he noticed that Prompto was having the same issue.

He tried tugging his shirt down. “Look, I’ll come back tomorrow and we can do something fun.”

Noctis crossed his arms. “And what are you gonna do? Go home and rub one out?”

“Better than the king catching me half-naked with his son!” he snapped, flushed. “Fuck, do you think I would have kissed you if I didn’t want you…like that?” He ran a hand through his hair.

“Look, it’s _my_ birthday, right?” Noctis stood up and walked over to him.

“Yeah,” Prompto said slowly.

“And we should do what I want, right?” Noctis continued.

“Yeah, but—”

Noctis grabbed his hands, clasping them tightly. “Just stay with me. I’ve got clothes you can borrow and we’ll just _sleep_. I promise. I just…don’t want to be alone right now.”

Prompto smiled. “Do you still have that old King’s Knight 3 shirt?”

“You think I’d ever get rid of it?” Noctis smirked.

“But what about the matching pants?” Prompto said.

“I saved ‘em for you. They don’t fit me anymore.” Noctis started digging through his dresser.

“That’s ‘cause your butt’s too big,” Prompto said, giving him a light tap.

Noctis raised an eyebrow. “At least I _have_ a butt.”

“You’re mean.”

“Here.” Noctis pushed the pajamas into his chest. He threw on an old t-shirt too. They had done this hundreds of times. Of course, back when they had first met, Noctis used to put a pillow in between them so things wouldn’t be weird. Prompto usually ended up cuddling up to the pillow all night. He figured things would be a bit different now.

“So, are we, like, dating?” Prompto said, glancing back as he changed clothes.

“I dunno,” Noctis muttered. “Every date I’ve ever been on has just been some girl swooning over my looks and the fact that I’m royalty, and I just end up tolerating her until it’s time to go home.”

“So, that’s a no?” Prompto pulled the shirt over his head.

“That depends,” Noctis said. “Are you gonna spend all our dates batting your eyelashes at me?”

Prompto laughed. “No, but, man—are you ever arrogant. The reason they were doing that is because you wouldn’t give them the time of day.” He smirked. “You have a huge boner for me on the other hand.”

“Maybe I was thinking about someone else,” Noctis said, crossing his arms.

“You weren’t.” Prompto climbed into the bed and disappeared under the covers.

Noctis climbed in next to him. This was the weirdest thing ever and yet it felt comfortable. It was Prompto, one of the only people he could be himself around. He stared up at the ceiling, not feeling the least bit tired.

“Hey, Noct?”

“Yeah?”

Prompto shifted, pushing himself up on his elbow. “We don’t have to do anything for your birthday if you don’t want to. I can still call it off.”

“Call what off?” Noctis turned on his side.

“Well, we kinda had this big party planned,” Prompto said, averting his eyes. “Ignis has another pastry recipe to try out and Gladio was going to rent a karaoke machine.”

“Karaoke?” Noctis blinked. “Is Gladio gonna sing? It might be worth it, then.”

“Depends on how much he has to drink,” Prompto said. “But if you want to be alone, that’s totally cool too.”

“I hate celebrating my birthday,” Noctis said. “You make a way bigger deal about it than I ever have.” Prompto’s smile faded as he spoke. “But…if you hadn’t come here tonight…I mean…ugh, what I’m trying to say is, this has probably been the best birthday I’ve ever had.” He averted his eyes, blushing.

“It was the kiss, right?” Prompto said. “’Cause you _know_ that’s only gonna be an annual thing. Just on your birthday.” He smiled crookedly.

“Better not be!” Noctis said, tackling him. He hovered over him for a moment before kissing him. He felt Prompto’s hands on the back of his neck, pulling him in even deeper. If they didn’t stop soon, they’d probably be doing it all night. He pulled away, breathless. “I thought this was an annual thing?”

“It is. It’s your birthday all day. We won’t be able to do this tomorrow,” Prompto said.

Noctis grinned. “Well, then I’d better get my fill.” He started kissing Prompto’s neck, eliciting giggles while Prompto twitched and tried to push him away.

“That tickles!” Prompto cried. “Stop, stop, stop!” he said, laughing.

“Noct!”

They both froze. Noctis stared at the door, holding his breath. His dad was just outside the door. How long had he been out there? Did he know Prompto was here? Did he know what they were doing?! “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he whispered.

“Go to bed! It’s late, and you’ll regret it in the morning.” And then he walked away for the second time.

Noctis collapsed beside Prompto, his heart racing. “Oh, my god,” he said, putting his face in his hands. They both descended into fits of laughter, before finally calming down and trying to go to sleep.

“Hey? You awake?” Noctis slid his finger down Prompto’s jawline and he opened his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, buddy. Happy birthday.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this please leave a comment and/or kudos! Also if you want to talk about anything, feel free to hit me up on [tumblr!](https://franniebanana.tumblr.com/) I like to chat about fandom!


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